Getting the best from nanotechnology: approaching social and ethical implications openly and proactively

If we're going to get the best from nanotechnology, we need to pay close attention to its societal and ethical implications from the technology's inception, rather than waiting until it is a mature technology with problems already embedded in society. In this article, we discuss such a paradigm, beginning with a discussion of the similarities between nanotechnology and other disruptive technologies. We then discuss some of the issues that will have to be dealt with as nanotechnology matures. Finally, we discuss some specific actions that can be taken now to implement a new paradigm for the introduction of disruptive new technologies.     

Plasma etching and plasma physics experiments for the undergraduatemicroelectronics course

Many universities offer lecture/laboratory courses on the processing of microelectronic circuits; these courses are designed to introduce electrical or chemical engineering students to the fundamentals of integrated circuit (IC) fabrication. Given the nearly universal adoption of plasma processing by the IC industry, experiments with plasmas are a necessary addition to this type of course. In this paper, a modified microelectronics laboratory sequence is described which incorporates two new experiments. In the first experiment, students study the fundamental nature of plasmas used for materials processing. This is followed by a second experiment designed to investigate the effects of plasma reactor parameters on the resulting etch. These experiments can be performed on minimally modified industrial-type plasma etching reactors. The experiments described may be easily implemented at universities with a microelectronics fabrication program or course, and may also be applicable for training in an industrial setting. The goal of these two experiments is to give the student preparing for employment in an IC fabrication environment broad exposure to the fundamental physics of low-pressure plasmas, in addition to some knowledge of the impact of reactor settings on the quality of the resulting etch     

Engineering ethics cases for electrical and computer engineeringstudents

Rarely is electrical technology at the focus of the classic case studies used in engineering ethics courses and textbooks. This makes it sometimes difficult to excite and to motivate electrical and computer engineering students to study and discuss these cases. In teaching engineering ethics to these students, it can be valuable to employ case studies that involve technical issues that electrical and computer engineers have already studied in other courses. In this paper, four engineering ethics case studies covering topics that have been shown to interest electrical and computer engineering students are presented